Hello Darkness My Old Friend
by The88Constellations
Summary: Nico's days in the bronze jar. Title is not mine, it's lyrics from "Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. The cover is someone else's art, but I recolored it on Recolor. Disclaimer: If I owned Percy Jackson, there would've been fewer deaths.
1. Chapter 1

Nico had almost reached the Doors when the Alodai twins caught him.

By that time, he was nearly insane. Between Akhlys, smiling and letting him pass because he'd gone through enough misery even for Misery, the Acheron, delivering tormenting messages about Bianca's death, and the spirit of the pit whispering in his mind with dark thoughts, he hadn't had a moment since he fell where he wasn't on the brink of insanity.

He'd been trudging towards the black and silver doors, determined to cut the chains before he lost his mind, when he saw a blinding light.

Probably, if he was descended from any god but Hades, he would have thought some monster killed him when he wasn't paying attention, and that he was on his way to the court of the Underworld.

But he _was_ a child of Hades, so he knew that death wasn't anything like this.

Then he realized that the light was actually flashing neon colors. After having been in the dark, melancholy pit for so long, and spending so much time in the nearly colorless Underworld, the sudden brightness hurt his eyes.

Nico could hazily make out two huge forms in the midst of the neon lights and fog machines. He was vaguely disturbed by that - _I know I've heard a myth about a pair of huge monsters that like to put on a wild spectacle, but I can't quite recall it at the moment_ , he thought.

By the time he realized who the monsters were, he was already being scooped up, terrified.

The Alodai twins put him in a huge bronze jar, like they did to Ares in the myths. It was cold and hard, and Nico didn't know how long he'd have to be in it. _I hope it won't be too long, because damn this is uncomfortable! Oh yeah, and also the threat of a slow, torturous death by suffocation,_ he thought.

Luckily, he had 8 of Persephone's pomegranate seeds in his pocket, which he brought along just in case he needed them in Tartarus.

Well, it turned out he didn't need them in the pit, but he would need them outside of it. Because judging from the terrible "easy-listening" music he could hear even through the jar, he wasn't going to be in Tartarus for much longer.

He could hear one of them complaining, "Ephie, I don't think that was featured on Hephaestus-TV! You said it would get media coverage!"

Ah. So that was Otis, then. Which means the other one, who was telling his brother to shut up and stop whining and don't call him Ephie, was Ephialtes.

 _Well, that stupid music stopped, so I think we're out of the pit_ , Nico thought. It should have been cause for celebration, but it only filled him with dread. _Where are we going now?_

He didn't know. All he knew was that he was helpless. All he could do was eat the seeds and pray. Pray to Persephone that her seeds would sustain him. Pray to Dionysus to keep his mind intact. Pray to his father for guidance.

And most of all, pray to all the gods of Olympus that he would be rescued before his seeds were out.

Nico ate a seed and scratched a tally mark on the jar with his sword. _Day one of this new kind of hell_ , he thought bitterly.

 **A/N: Hey guys! So this is my first fic. Constructive criticism is welcome but no flames please. Did I portray Nico okay? Was he too OOC? What can I do to improve? Please review to tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

Nico knew it was dangerous to sleep in the death trance, but he _was_ half-human.

The dreams he'd had in the few moments he'd dared to sleep almost made him wish he didn't have to sleep, but, well, they _did_ have useful information.

Unfortunately, they did _not_ bring good news. Demigod dreams never did.

 _Biggest understatement of the quest_ , Nico thought. He almost laughed sarcastically, but he didn't have the energy.

What he'd seen had scared him, plain and simple. He didn't like to admit that, but it was true.

Despite being mostly over Percy, it still hurt emotionally to see his easy chemistry with Annabeth. The way the two of them acted like they just _belonged_ together... _nope, not gonna think about that,_ Nico thought, forcing the images out of his head with great difficulty.

He turned his attention to the other things he had dreamed of.

He'd seen Leo, possessed by an eidolon, firing on New Rome. The ballistae on the ship blazed, Octavian fumed, and there were screaming campers everywhere. Fistfights broke out. Jason got knocked out when a brick hit his head. It was just utter chaos.

Then he'd seen Octavian screaming at a Senate meeting, getting the legion riled up and ready to march across the country with a declaration of war.

Then it was Percy and Jason, also possessed by eidolons, fighting each other. Swords clashed and the face of Gaea swirled in the fields.

First of all, the presence of eidolons. They were out and about, and working for Gaea. That wasn't good. The worst part was that it was impossible to defeat them if they possessed a friend or loved one, because you would have to kill the eidolon's victim in order to force the eidolon out of the body. And if Nico knew the 7, which he did, they were _not_ going to kill each other. Not that he wanted that, obviously, but the point is, it made the eidolons hard to get rid of. He only hoped they'd find a way.

Also, Octavian. It had become clear in Nico's dream that the scrawny augur scumbag was gaining power in the legion. Most likely, he'd convince the Romans to march on Camp Half-Blood. And considering that a Greek had fired on their camp (True, it was accidental, but the Romans didn't know that), Reyna wasn't really in a position to call for peace. That made him an enemy of Rome. More importantly, it branded all of the 7 demigods as traitors.

Nico scratched another mark on the jar with his sword, ate another seed, and prayed. This time, despite his dislike for the goddess, Nico prayed to Hera that her plan would succeed.

 **A/N: So, another chapter! Yes, I know, this one's shorter. Usually, I write longer chapters, but since this fic is a series of reflections and not much happens outside of Nico's head, this fanfic will have chapters on the short side.**

 **Please review and tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

The twins were starting to drive Nico crazy. Of course, as soon as the various monsters and gods in Tartarus weren't there to try to rip his mind to shreds, a new insanity-inducing presence came into his life.

First of all, their incessant bickering. Over their ridiculous costumes ("I said _I_ was going to wear the black turtleneck, Otis! Stop copying me!"), ballet ("But Ephie, it would look so pretty!"), and even over what they called each other ("My stage name is 'THE BIG F'! Get it right, Otis!").

Second, their obsession with big spectacles was starting to make Nico nervous. It was only a matter of time before Ephialtes or Otis said that the slow death by sufforcation they were making him endure was too boring, and suspended him over a pit of boiling lava, or the water of an Underworld river. That would eliminate the small chance he had at living. No rope could hold out for that long.

Although, Nico suspected that they would have done something like that if they weren't afraid that the rope would snap too soon. He wasn't stupid. He knew he was just bait for the Seven.

 _I mean, come on_. _Percy had a dream of this place last night. Probably Gaea manipulated it,_ he thought. He knew when people dreamed about him the same way he knew when someone died. It was a sixth sense of sorts, because dreams were fluid just like shadows were.

 _Shadows._ Though it was hard for him to admit, a fear of shadows and darkness had started to creep in since he had fallen into Tartarus. Until then, darkness had not been an evil force. A powerful one, yes, but one he could control. But since he had started the long trek to the Doors, he realized that there _was_ some darkness that was evil, and he couldn't always control it. That had been hard to accept. Even in the jar, after literally having been through hell and back, he couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea that there was a malevolent force of darkness that he couldn't rein in when it got too destructive.

 _No._ Nico told himself something he had heard at Camp Jupiter: _Control your fear or it will control you._ If he got scared enough of shadows, he might end up like Thalia, a daughter of Zeus who couldn't control the winds to fly because she was afraid of heights.

And so, as he ate another seed, he prayed to anyone that would listen for strength. The strength to endure, to survive, and to keep hoping.

 **A/N: So, there's another chapter! Thank you so much to TheRainbowMarshmallow for being my first reviewer! I want feedback from you guys! I'll try to answer all of my reviews, but if I get too many, I might only answer some.**

 **TheRainbowMarshmallow: I'll try my best. I'll update my other chapters as soon as I post this.**


	4. Chapter 4

On the fourth day, the Alodai twins took Nico's sword.

Maybe it would've been worth it for even a glimpse of the outside world, a glimpse he hadn't had since Camp Jupiter, which was probably weeks ago. But no, the only glimpse he got was the ugly face of Ephialtes. It was humanoid, but a really, really _ugly_ humanoid. The only thing that seeing it accomplished was making him more worried about his friends' chance against Gaea. And he _really_ didn't need to see the giant in glittery gold Spandex. As if his nightmares weren't bad enough already...

 _Nope, not thinking about that,_ Nico thought. He pushed his nightmares out of his head, knowing that they would invade his thoughts again, sooner or later. They always did.

Nico stared at the three tally marks he'd made with his sword before Ephialtes took it. _Why the hell would they bother, anyways? It's not like I could use it to escape._

Nico thought about it for a bit. What could Gaea have told her sons to do with the sword? Because there was no way those idiots took it on a whim. There was something going on here. Gaea had a plan. He just needed to figure out what it was.

Suddenly he sat bolt upright with the realization of what exactly they could do with the sword. In doing so, he hit his head on the top of the jar, but he'd dealt with much worse pain than the sharp sting that followed.

He was obviously bait for the 7. That much he knew. While it's possible Percy told the rest of the crew of the Argo II about his dream, Nico figured it was unlikely. So the only way they could know where he was was if Hazel sensed his sword with her demigod abilities.

Gaea was sending them on a false trail. She was moving his sword so that Hazel and the other crew members would chase after it, expecting to find him, only to find nothing there but his weapon.

Nico muttered a curse in ancient Greek that roughly translated to "rot in hell". It had a kind of conviction someone who had never been to Tartarus couldn't replicate.

 _Tartarus..._ Nico hadn't dared think of his search for the Doors of Death since the twins trapped him in the jar. Only now, with his anger at Gaea to keep him from spiraling into insanity, did he begin to contemplate it. No, that was too calm a word. The thoughts of that hell plagued him like his sister's death had in the days he had wandered the Labryrinth.

With those thoughts in his head, he ate another seed. The food of the Underworld... he only hoped it didn't mean anything for the coming days.

 **A/N: So, another chapter! What did you think? Please review! I've been getting really nice reviews lately and they really make my day.**

 **On that note:**

 **Hannah forever** and **Guest: Thanks :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Part of Nico wished he had enough energy to shadow-travel. Then he could get out of this hellish jar, and not have to worry about being killed by the giants the second he escaped.

But as tempting as that sounded, it was highly probable that he would dissolve into darkness if he tried. If not, he could end up in Australia or Antarctica or somewhere else that would just make his journey harder.

Nico almost laughed at the thought, remembering the times he had ended up in places he had never dreamed of going to. Before he had gotten better at controlling his powers. Yeah, he still occasionally ended up at the top of the Space Needle when he was trying to get to Camp Jupiter (damn, that had been scary), but for the most part, he could control his shadow-travel destinations.

The time he had ended up in China with Mrs. O'Leary...that had been a bit of a rude awakening. First of all, he hadn't known that he needed to concentrate so intensely to go in the right direction. So when he ended up in Shanghai instead of his intended destination, he was confused. Second, the realization that he was, well, a loner _everywhere._ The looks that people gave him in Shanghai, the expressions that read, _You do not belong here_ , were not unfamiliar to him. People gave him that look at Camp Half-Blood. They looked at him that way at Camp Jupiter.

And apparently, they would continue to give him that look wherever he went. The next time he'd veered off-course, he ended up on a beach in Malibu when he'd been trying to get to the Los Angeles entrance to the Underworld. That had been worse than Shanghai, because he actually knew what people were saying. Nico had heard at least least three girls giggle and say, _Damn, that kid is hot, but he needs a tan._ But while the girls gossiped, the Hollywood idiots stared. They whispered, _What the hell is he doing here?_

No one would ever ask Nico directly, but those questions had been asked behind his back for years. He couldn't even go to the Underworld without whispers and stares following him. True, in the Underworld, it was usually, _Look, it's the son of Hades, we should behave or he'll tell his daddy._ But he didn't like those any better. Nico just wanted to be treated like a normal kid.

 _Normal..._ If there was one thing a demigod had to constantly redefine, it was normal. For a demigod, normal meant Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter. Normal meant having to look over your shoulder every two seconds in the mortal world. Normal meant monsters trying to kill you on every street corner. Normal meant making excuses for the scars you had to cover. Normal never meant going to school and worrying about teenage things, like crushes and grades and driving and acne.

As Nico ate another seed, he prayed to a god of normal he hoped existed.

 **A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been a while, but life gets in the way.**

 **TheSpanishC4** **(guest): Thanks! I'm trying my best with the updates.**

 **I've been considering changing the title to "Hello Darkness My Old Friend". Do you think I should keep "Living on a Prayer" or change it? Vote in a poll posted on my profile.**


	6. Chapter 6

Nico surprised himself.

He had realized recently that he wasn't scared of wasting away in the jar. Death was not new to him. He felt it every day. Demigods were always dying. It was a miracle that Percy, the son of one of the most powerful gods, was still alive at 17.

No, Nico wasn't afraid of death. He was only scared of three things.

First of all, he was scared that the giants might finally snap and disobey Gaea. They might do something crazy to him because of their messed-up ideas about entertainment. Nico accepted that he might die in the very near future, but he wanted it to be painless. The Alodai twins thought his death was "boring" because it was slow, and because he was just sitting in the jar, not doing anything. _Wow_ , Nico thought. _Did I really just get into the heads of those idiots?_

Anyways, he was also scared that his friends might die trying to save him. Percy especially. The son of Poseidon's fatal flaw was personal loyalty. If they ended up in a situation where Percy could either save himself or Nico, he'd pick Nico and get himself killed. The 7 _needed_ Percy. _Annabeth_ needed Percy. Even if that wasn't true, Nico couldn't live with more deaths on his conscience.

Hardest of all to admit, he was scared of what the Greeks and Romans would do to each other if he died. Nico was the only chance for peace. The Seven had another mission. They needed to focus on the Doors of Death. And all the other demigods would have sides. He was the only one that didn't belong at either camp.

Because he didn't fit in at Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter, Nico often tried to convince himself that he didn't care. He was a loner and a misfit. If they didn't want him, he didn't want them.

Except that wasn't true. No matter how much time he spent in the Underworld, he always came back to the camps. Whether it was a few days at Camp Jupiter to spend time with Hazel, or a few hours at Camp Half-Blood to play Capture the Flag, he knew deep down he could never abandon the other demigods.

Even if they abandoned him.

Nico sucked on a pomegranate seed and prayed to both Eirene and Pax, the Greek and Roman goddesses of peace, that the demigod camps wouldn't burn each other to the ground.

 **A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this update is a bit late. Writer's block sucks. In my defense though, there isn't any action, so it can be hard to come up with a new subject for Nico to think about.**

 **So the votes are in! Plus, someone gave their opinion in the reviews (I'll get to that in a minute), and a friend gave input. It's unanimous: Change it. And I will, as soon as I post this chapter.**

 **On the subject of reviews:**

 **Hannah forever: Yup, I'll change it as soon as I post this chapter. And thanks :)!**

 **As always, tell me what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

Lately, Nico's thoughts seemed to often be on the subject of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. "Percabeth", as Piper had nicknamed it.

The two of them...Nico had to admit they were meant to be. It was just the will of the Fates.

He'd come to accept that. Not just "Percabeth", but the will of the Fates.

Even if the Fates almost never failed to make his life worse. First, they took Bianca from him, and with it, his innocence. Recently, they had come close to taking his sanity. And they did enough messed up things to his life in between that if they all took shape, they would fill the jar in which Nico was sitting.

The thought reminded him of Pandora. He had always felt sorry for her. The gods created her to take revenge on Prometheus. She never had a will of her own. She just existed to serve a purpose that the Olympians put in place for her.

Nico wondered if that was how the gods saw all mortals, especially demigods. Not really there for any reason other than to do their bidding. Maybe that was why they always sent them on dangerous, sometimes suicidal quests to get back objects that were sacred to them. And maybe that was why they treated mortal deaths as no big deal. If a demigod died questing, they would sit on Mount Olympus and say, "Oh well. Send in the next guy."

Or maybe the gods only acted that way because it would drive them insane if they reacted to every death. There were lots of mortal deaths every day. If the gods wept for each one of them, they would never stop crying. Nico had seen for himself the countless souls in Asphodel. The tortured spirits in Punishment. He had learned to deal with it. Of course, it was still sad, to the point of depressing. But if he thought about the sadness of it every time he went to the Underworld, he could never accomplish whatever it was he came for.

 _There could be tens of thousands of reasons why gods act the way they do_ , Nico thought. And different gods might have different reasons. Maybe some act indifferently because they really _are_ indifferent. Maybe some act maliciously because they really _are_ malicious. Maybe some don't want to get emotionally attached, so they act indifferently or even maliciously towards mortals. _I could go on and on, but it would be a waste of all this time,_ Nico thought.

Right. Back to using this thinking time effectively. If he escaped the jar (and it could go either way), what would he do when he got out?

He didn't know, but he prayed to Tyche for luck. Luck in escaping this godsdamned jar. Luck for the Seven in his quest. And luck for whatever part he has to play in this whole thing.

He might have prayed to the Fates if he didn't know how useless that was.

 **A/N: Hey guys! So, this fanfic will only have one more chapter. The idea is one chapter for every one day he was stuck in the jar, and I think he was stuck for 8 days. (If my math is wrong, feel free to correct me in the reviews).**

 **Speaking of reviews:**

 **a311243549: Thanks :). Yeah, I know my chapters are short. I am working on it. Expect longer chapters in future fanfictions!**


	8. Chapter 8

Nico's head was spinning. Travel by god was dizzying. Besides, the events of the last few minutes were so jam-packed that they were hard to process.

First, the Seven had arrived. Well, more like the Three. And honestly? Nico would have preferred a different Three. Actually, Nico would have liked it better if it was the whole Seven. But if he _had_ to pick? He would have wanted Hazel, Frank, and Percy to back him up.

The most powerful of those three (Percy) was here, but the one he trusted most (Hazel) wasn't. And to Nico, trust was more important than godly powers or combat skills.

Still, he was glad to have backup. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to back up when they first got there. Nico had been trapped in the jar, and to save him, the Three would have to get past two concealed, fully-armed giants.

Then, Otis had tipped the jar over, exposing him to the world. Ah, fresh air! Actual sunlight on his back! _When you've been in a tight, dark, uncomfortable space for a week, and an insanity-inducing pit of darkness for gods know how long before that, you really don't take_ anything _for granted_ , Nico thought.

But he didn't have time to revel in his release. He had no energy, and would be useless in a fight. The Three didn't have any godly help at their disposal. So, the Alodai twins were alive and basically un-killable.

Then, he'd watched Percy and Jason try their best to kill the un-killable giants. And predictably, they failed. Well, until Bacchus showed up.

And that took him to this moment. Sitting in the emperor's box with Piper and Bacchus, forced to watch a spectacle he wanted so badly to be a part of and yet really didn't. Sipping on ambrosia and just standing by, feeling despicable. Feeling like he was a Capitolite in _The Hunger Games_ , a book Annabeth had pretty much forced everyone to read (in Ancient Greek, of course). Well, it was a choice between _The Hunger Games_ and _Twilight_ , and Nico, being used to death but not romance, would much rather read the former.

Anyways, that wasn't the point. The point was, he felt like he should be doing something. Yet he knew that if he did, he would probably die. So he just sat in the emperor's box, watching a battle he couldn't bear to see unfold.

Yet somehow, it did. And it unfolded rather well. Jason and Percy used their godly powers to keep Ephialtes at bay while they fought Otis. Then, something totally unexpected happened.

The rest of the Seven arrived (minus Annabeth, who was doing her solo quest). They blew up Ephialtes.

Then something even more unexpected happened. Bacchus, who was practically the god of laziness, actually _helped_ with a battle. He finished off the Alodai twins.

Although Nico still didn't have much energy, he had enough to smile in triumph. Those two had been his captors. They would have let him waste away in that jar until he was a pile of skin, bones, and tattered black clothing. He was glad to see them gone.

And _now_ , he had time to (inwardly) celebrate his return to the world of the living.

 **A/N: Hey guys! So I have decided that this will not actually be the last chapter. There will be an epilogue, and it will be the last scene of HoH from Nico's POV.**

 **Now, to respond to my reviews!**

 **Hannah forever: Thanks :)**


	9. Chapter 9 (Epilogue)

Nico had been wondering when Percy would approach him. After all, when _he_ got out of Tartarus, he would've liked emotional support. Percy got most of it from Annabeth, but Nico supposed that the son of Poseidon wanted to clear the air about a few things.

They exchanged a few words of demigod small talk, and then Percy brought up Tartarus.

Nico listened to his story. He figured it was the least a... friend... could do. Even if hearing this brought back some _serious_ PTSD. Precy had been through many of the same things he had, and it wasn't pleasant to relive them.

He was pretty sure that was the right word. Percy had been many things to him over the year. Protector. Enemy. Even, dares he say it, crush. But all of that was over now. He thought that _friend_ was the best word to describe their complicated relationship.

They talked a bit more before Nico told Percy to "give him some space". Percy nodded, although Nico could see the touch of hurt on his face.

Then Annabeth jogged up the hill to join them. She held Percy's hand. Nico winced inwardly, but knew better than to show it.

In a brief exchange, they wished each other luck. Then Reyna and Hedge joined them.

 _It's like a Doomsday Party up here_ , Nico thought.

More demigod small talk."Good luck" and "Don't die" and all that. Hedge, admittedly, made things a little awkward. And...wait, was his wife _pregnant?_

 _Note to self: Ask Hedge about it later. Unless, of course, we die before I get the chance._

Then, Nico shadow-travelled the questers out of the area, and the quest for peace, unity, and hauling a 40-foot statue across the globe was begun.

 **A/N: Yeah, I know, shorter than usual, but that's OK! (I think...) So yeah, last chapter! I'll be starting a few new fanfics soon, but one at a time. My next priority is a prompt I adopted from "DDaughterofAthena". So expect it soon!**


End file.
